


The Forgotten Child

by Onesmartcookie78



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Airbending & Airbenders, Book 1: Air, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/F, F/M, Kidnapping, Lin Beifong's A+ Parenting, Love Triangles, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pre-Book 1: Air, Rating May Change, Secret Children, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26076508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onesmartcookie78/pseuds/Onesmartcookie78
Summary: “You’re,” she pauses, “you’re orphans? I didn’t know you were—”“You didn’t know we—what, did you think we just like hanging around in alleys?"Or: Lin and Tenzin have a child, but Tenzin doesn't know it.Join my Discord!
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato, Korra/Mako (Avatar), Lin Beifong & Tenzin, Lin Beifong/Tenzin (previous), Mako/Asami Sato, Mako/Original Female Character(s), Mako/Reader, Pema/Tenzin (Avatar)
Comments: 136
Kudos: 320





	1. Lin I

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Korra or Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I do own any of the characters you don't recognize
> 
> A/N: This fic was inspired by "Sparks to Fire" by bipolar.poet08 on FFnet, as well as by my most recent watch-through of season 1 of LoK following its drop on Netflix. I hope you enjoy this fic. Please leave comments!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lin really hates Tenzin.

**LIN**

When Lin Beifong finds out she’s pregnant, her whole world changes—and not out of happiness.

Tenzin is with Pema now, so she’s pregnant and alone. Sounds about right. This _would_ happen to her.

“Damn him!” she curses, not for the first (and certainly not for the last) time.

“Just one more push, Lin!” says Kya, the only person other than Lin herself who even knows about Lin's condition. Lin’s been in hiding for months now, ever since she began to show, working on endless piles of paperwork to keep busy and even temporarily stepping down as Chief of police. Everyone had chalked it up to heartbreak, to Lin not being able to get over Tenzin, and, after the first ten times of ignoring her childhood friend knocking on her door, so too had Tenzin himself, the unwitting father to her—

A baby girl?

Yes, that was what Kya had said as she had passed the babe off to her friend.

“A beautiful, healthy, baby girl,” Kya says, stroking the baby's cheek.

Lin doesn’t know about “beautiful,” but her daughter has certainly got a healthy set of lungs, and she’s—well—pink.

Lin supposes she might call her cute.

“How do you feel?” asks Kya as she reclaims the baby. Lin is relieved to no longer have the thing in her arms—it’d be all too easy to accidentally drop her or squeeze her too hard, or—

Not waiting for a reply, Kya continues, “What have you decided to name her?”

Lin recoils, because she hasn’t given it much thought, even after all these months.

Spirits. A _name?_

The wrong name could mess up her child for life, have her teased at school, lead to a lifetime of resentment—

The first test of parenthood and she’s already failing.

“Lin?” Kya prompts.

“I’m thinking!” she snaps, and Kya rolls her eyes, but begins to tickle the baby under her chin, rocking her softly in her arms and humming, an action that Lin wonders if all new parents must learn to do, because that’s another test that she would fail.

The baby calms, gurgling and giggling in response, and Lin is granted blissful silence in which to think.

“Sarri,” she finally decides. “I’ll call her Sarri.”


	2. Sarri I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarri meets Mako and Bolin for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who left kudos, bookmarked this fic, or subscribed! I would really appreciate it if more of you would leave comments, but the support that I've received thus far has been incredible!

**SARRI**

She doesn’t exist.

Or, at least, no one really knows of her existence. She’s homeschooled, grows up with a series of nannies rather than a parental figure and it’s—well, it’s _lonely._

Lin—or, rather, her mother—is always at work, and she never even publicly acknowledges that she has a daughter, let alone takes her to the park or to plays or to do things that she imagines normal children get to do. She reads about these things though, reads about children that play with one another and go to pro-bending matches and—

But it doesn’t do well to dwell on things she’ll never experience, for she is locked inside her home. These four walls are all she’ll ever know.

Then, one day, it happens. It’s the eve of her eighth birthday. Her tutor, Miro, leaves and Sarri dutifully awaits the arrival of her nanny. She waits ten minutes, twenty, then an _hour_ , and then, finally, the home phone rings.

“Hello?” she answers tentatively. Her fingers fidget restlessly with the cord and she can’t quite get them to stop shaking.

“Sarri?” comes the frazzled-sounding voice of her nanny, Pana. There’s a tinny quality to her voice that Sarri attributes to the phone, but it’s still recognizable as Pana. “I’m not going to be able to make it to your house until dinner tonight, okay sweetheart?” asks Pana, breaking Sarri’s train of thought. “Just stay put, alright?”

Sarri nods absentmindedly, but already she’s thinking about what she can do. It’s only half past three and dinner isn’t until five, so she has a good hour and a half to explore before she has to be home. Maybe she can go to a store. Even better, what if she meets kids her own age? This will be great! Then, remembering that her nanny can’t see her, she replies, “Okay, I’ll see you at dinner!” and quickly hangs up.

She has a little money from Lin in case of emergencies, like if Lin is short on groceries and Pana has to go out, or if Lin forgets to pay Miro, but she’s never had to use it. She knows that she can use it for, well, _something_ , but she’s nervous. She’s never been outside before. What if she gets lost? What if she gets mugged or kidnapped? Worse, what if _Lin_ finds out?!

But then again, this might be her only chance. She _has_ to. She’ll never forgive herself if she doesn’t.

So, steeling herself, she leaves home for the first time.

* * *

 _The outside world is so…big. And loud,_ Sarri thinks to herself as she walks down the street. _Busy, too,_ she adds mentally as another car zooms by her. Busy and big and loud and there are _so_ many people. More than she could have ever imagined. How does Lin track down criminals in a city like this? How does she ever find them in the crowds?

She walks for what feels like hours but is only perhaps twenty minutes or so. And, all too quickly, she ends up turned around. There are just—the crowds are just—she steps into an alleyway to catch her breath, muttering about how stupid this is, how stupid _she_ is all the while. The only light comes from the slight gaps between rooftops and the result is dingey cobblestones being painted in dim relief. She watches her feet carefully as she walks to avoid tripping on piles of garbage and the occasional can. As she scouts a path, she notices a puddle to her left even though it hasn’t rained in a week; whatever the substance is, it smells foul.

 _Definitely not water_ , she thinks.

Despite the summer heat, it’s damp and a little cold in the alley. A strong gust of wind chills her further, and Sarri shivers to herself.

Deciding that enough is enough, she turns around, only to find that she’s walked further into the alley than she had thought. In the distance, she can see the street: Satomobiles occasionally roll past the narrow opening, along with the odd passerby milling about.

Figuring she must be near the end of the alley, she huffs to herself and turns back around, only to nearly jump out of her skin when she’s greeted by two boys who look to be about her age.

“Hi!” greets the shorter—and younger-looking—boy, his green eyes bright. He’s smiling widely, a stark contrast from the boy beside him, whose features are pulled into what looks to be a perpetual scowl of annoyance, as though she’s bothering them just by being here. “I’m Bolin and this is my brother, Mako!”

She hesitates before replying, her voice shaking slightly. “I’m—I—I’m—lost!” she finally wails, bursting into tears. “I don’t know how I got here!”

Through tear-blurred eyes, she watches Bolin take a step back, clearly off-put by her behavior. At the same time, Mako takes a step forward, like a shark smelling blood in the water.

She cringes away from him, but he isn’t deterred.

“We can help you find your way home,” Mako begins, taking another step forward, and she retreats. “For the right price,” he continues, crossing his arms and drawing her attention to the red scarf tied around his neck despite the summer heat.

She regards him suspiciously, trying to determine if he’s lying or not. At times like this, she wishes she had seismic sense like her mother. But she doesn’t, so she settles for trying to read the brothers’ facial expressions. Bolin is nodding along earnestly, while Mako simply meets her gaze with cool yellow eyes. She’s not sure what she’s supposed to be looking for, but it’s been long enough that she has to make a decision; Mako’s foot is starting to tap impatiently and Bolin’s grin is fading slightly around the edges.

She doesn’t have a lot of options. So, she finally says, “Fine,” her voice still a little watery.

“What’s your address?” Mako asks and she freezes.

It takes a second to remember it because she’s scared and panicking and because she’s never had to give someone her address before. She’s never had any friends and her house has never caught on fire or been robbed, so she’s never had anyone to give her address _to._ But Lin had drilled it into Sarri’s brain in the case of an accident or emergency, so eventually she manages to recall it and give it to the brothers.

Mako seems a little surprised by where she lives, but it’s Bolin who can’t keep his mouth shut as they start walking. “You live _there_?” he asks, and she grows offended, having completely missed his tone of awe.

As far as she’s concerned, her home is fine! Sure, it’s nothing special; Lin keeps the decorating minimal, sparse, almost _military_ , but it’s a nice home all the same!

“What’s wrong with _that?”_ she snaps, turning her nose up and crossing her arms.

She sees Mako roll his eyes.

Bolin, however, furrows his brows. “That’s—it’s just one of the nice parts of the city, that’s all.”

She frowns, offense forgotten. “Is it? I didn’t know that.”

It makes sense though. The homes there are farther apart, meaning there are almost no alleyways; there are less people walking about; and there aren’t as many cars to pollute the air.

Bolin makes a few wild hand gestures in lieu of speech as he seemingly struggles to produce a sentence. “How can—how would—how don’t you know—?”

“She’s never been outside before, Bo,” says Mako, squinting at her as though he’s seeing her for the first time. He shakes his head slightly and turns back towards the street.

Her cheeks go scarlet. “I—yes—how did you—?”

“You barely remembered your address and then you were surprised to find out that it’s in a nice neighborhood. I’m not _dumb,”_ he says as though she’d been accusing him of such.

She wants to retort, to say that she had never called him that, but Bolin beats her to the punch. “I don’t think that’s what she meant, bro. Oh, look, dumplings! Can we get some, Mako?” He makes a pathetic begging face that has her heart melting.

“We don’t have eno—”

“I’ll pay,” she interrupts, stepping forward. She finds the emergency fund in her pocket and pulls it out, only to be stopped by Mako.

“Are you _crazy?”_ he hisses, grabbing her wrist. “You can’t go around flashing cash like that.” He takes the required amount out of her palm, passing it to the vendor, and then curls his hand around hers, hiding the money from view once more. “You see those kids over there?” He jerks his chin to the side, but when she goes to lean around him to look, he squeezes her hand. “ _No, don’t look_. They’re orphans, like Bo and me. They’ll pick your pocket in a heartbeat. You can’t go showing that much cash around here, alright?”

She feels like everything is happening in slow motion. “You’re,” she pauses, “you’re _orphans?”_

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches Bolin eagerly take the container of dumplings, but beside her, Mako releases her hand so that he can face-palm.

She shoves the remaining cash back into her pocket and watches Mako’s exasperated expression with one of confusion. “I didn’t know you were—”

“You didn’t know we—what, did you think we just like hanging around in alleys? That we were asking for pocket money or something? No, you wouldn’t know anything about that, you wouldn’t know what it’s like to have no food, no paren—” he’s interrupted by Bolin unceremoniously shoving a dumpling into his mouth.

“Awn’t dey guht?” Bolin asks through a mouthful of dumplings himself, and for the first time, Sarri laughs.

Mako is still upset (she can tell by the way his eyes are slightly narrowed and his mouth pulls down at the corners), but Bolin is grinning encouragingly, clearly waiting for some sort of a response, so Mako gives him a pained grimace that must amount to “it’s delicious” in Mako-speak, for Bolin's grin widens further.

The next ten minutes are spent in relative silence as Bolin and Mako finish the dumplings, but when they finally arrive at her house, she doesn’t quite know what to do. She stands in front of the door uncertainly. Does she invite them in for tea? Invite them to spend the night? No, then Lin would definitely know she’d gone out. No, the most she can do for them is—

She reaches into her pocket for a second time and pulls out the emergency fund. “Here,” she says, her voice little more than a whisper as she tries to pass the money to Mako. “You need it more than I do.”

But Mako angrily shoves her hand away. “We don’t need your pity,” he exclaims, and she throws up her hands in frustration, the money trapped in her right fist.

“First you want my money, then I find out you actually _need_ it, but now you won’t take it? What’s _wrong_ with you?” she shouts, and her hair lifts up in a halo around her head as a strong gust of wind pulls at it.

But Mako is staring at her with complete disdain. “You don’t even know how much money you’re trying to give me, do you,” he scoffs, and rips a few dollars out of her hands. “This is enough to last Bolin and I a week. I won’t take any more than that.” He tosses his red scarf over his shoulder and begins to walk away. “C’mon brother.”

Bolin gives her a huge smile and thanks her for the money before taking off after him.

She shakes her head as she watches their backs against the setting sun.

She should have stayed at home.


	3. Mako I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako receives an offer he cannot resist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone for this fic receiving 50+ kudos and over 600+ hits! I'm so grateful for the response that this story has received. Words cannot express how happy I am that people are enjoying this fic as much as I'm enjoying writing it. That said, please PLEASE leave a comment if you are invested in this story-comments are a quick and effective way of letting me know (for sure) that you would like me to continue this fic.

**MAKO**

It doesn’t take long for Mako to come to the conclusion that this girl is stupid. At best, she’s extremely naïve and sheltered. At worst, she’s a complete moron. He first notices her lack of self-awareness and utter deficit in street smarts when she’s walking down his and Bolin’s alley. She doesn’t notice his brother and him even though they’re standing only ten feet in front of her, and when Bolin greets her, she physically jumps.

When he offers to walk her home, she only hesitates for a minute before agreeing. It takes a lot of effort for him to avoid lecturing her about giving out her address to a couple of street urchins, and to keep from chastising her about agreeing to pay said street urchins for their services. But, at the end of the day, she’s not his responsibility, _Bolin_ is, and this is just another way for him to get money so that he can take care of his brother.

He’s not sure what comes over him when he stops her from flashing cash at the dumpling stand. Something about her innocence reminds him of Bolin, of his too-good-for-the-world brother who doesn’t deserve the hand that life has dealt him, his brother who always manages a smile even when they haven’t ate in a few days, his brother who is the only person left in the world who he loves. But it’s much easier to attribute his concern to not wanting her to get pickpocketed before he can get his cut for guiding her home.

His short temper final explodes when she offers him all the money in her pocket. She’s just so—she has no _idea_ what kind of money she’s trying to hand over to him, no concept of how much she has while they have not. It pisses him off, and even though he could desperately use the money, he can’t quite find it in himself to take it from her, and that pisses him off even more, until he’s yelling at her.

He settles for taking enough to last the week, even as his fingers itch to snatch it all from her small hands, even as guilt gnaws at the pit of his stomach. It’s no different from what they normally do, no different from running cons or crunching numbers for the Triple Threats. But somehow, it _feels_ different.

“She really doesn’t know anything about the outside word, huh?” Bo says as they start back towards their alley.

Mako scoffs. “To say the least.”

“Don’t you feel bad for taking the money from her?” Bo asks, a frown marring his normally jovial features, the unspecified implication behind his remark being that he does. “She obviously doesn’t know how much she gave us.”

Mako shakes his head, as though to physically rid himself of his own misgivings. “Her fault for not knowing,” he says with a casual shrug.

Bolin frowns. “Is that really fair, bro?”

Mako opens his mouth to reply, but he catches sight of Shady Shin out of the corner of his eye. “Bo, why don’t you go on ahead?” he prompts, and his brother makes to protest, but ultimately decides better of it when Mako shoots him a look of warning, as though to say “I’m older than you and you have to listen to me.”

“Hey kid,” Shady Shin greets as Mako warily approaches him. “How would you like to earn some extra cash.”

Mako thinks, then, about refusing. He already has enough cash to last the week, so what’s the point? But the temptation is too great. The thought of being about to save some money, of being able to rent a place to stay, of being able to take care of Bolin, of not having to go to bed hungry, is too much to bear. He’s interested and he doesn’t even bother trying to hide it. “What did you have in mind?” he asks.

“That little girl you were with today?” Shady Shin begins in a mocking tone, and Mako doesn’t like where this is going. “I saw what she was wearing, and Lee saw how much cash she had. A little birdie told me,” he licks his lips, “that you walked her home.” His grin is feral. “I’ll give you 4,000 yuans* if you give me her address, _plus_ a cut of whatever we manage to, uh, _liberate,_ from her home.”

And it’s too good a deal to pass up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *According to reddit, 30,000 yuans would be the equivalent of $12,000. It is unclear to me if this reddit user accounted for inflation (remember, LoK is set in the 1920s and money was worth a lot more back then)
> 
> I chose not to account for inflation, meaning that, in this fic, 4,000 yuans would be roughly $1,600, which is quite a bit of money; certainly enough to last an entire month assuming the only thing you're buying is groceries. According to an article I read, the cost of groceries in NYC per person per week is ~$68, meaning that the cost of living on the streets and just buying food would be around $150, or 375 yuans. Assuming Sarri only gave Mako this amount, who can blame him for accepting the money from Shady Shin?
> 
> Like this fic? [ Join my Discord!](https://discord.gg/phzUsxX)


	4. Sarri II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako's actions have consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, 900+ hits and 69 kudos--nice ;)

**SARRI**

_She really should have stayed home_ , she thinks to herself as she’s unceremoniously shoved into a cage. Her face is throbbing something fierce and she feels nauseous. She aches to scream, to shout at her captors, but all she manages is a soft stutter, “Ch-chief Beifong will catch you!”

And her captors laugh.

And she starts to cry.

* * *

**SEVERAL HOURS EARLIER**

It starts out like any other day.

“Sarri!” Lin calls, and she races down the stairs in a dead sprint.

“Yes, Chief?” she asks, clicking her heels together and raising her hand to her temple like Lin had taught her to do.

“Miro is here. I’m going to work.”

She catches herself before she can say “bye Lin.” Instead, she drops her salute. “Have a good day at work, Chief,” she wishes no less sincerely.

What follows is a couple boring hours of reviewing homework and lessons. Today, she learns about Toph Beifong, war hero, former Chief of Republic City’s Police, and the inventor or metalbending. She’s heard of Toph before, has always admired her. She wonders if she’s somehow related to her, to Toph, or if she’s from a different line of Beifongs. Maybe they’re distant cousins or something. But, surely, Lin would have mentioned if they were related to her in some way, right? At any rate, her tutor never mentions Toph Beifong’s family, so she’s left wondering.

When Miro leaves and Pana doesn’t show up—again—Sarri wonders if there’s another venture outdoors in her near future. Then again, she’d gotten lost yesterday and had to rely on those two brothers to bring her home.

Macho and Balin.

Or…something like that.

The first two kids her age that she’d ever met, and she’d embarrassed herself in front of them not once, but twice. First by crying in front of them, and then by losing her composure and yelling at scarf-boy…Spirits, she’d been a mess. Trying to give them money like that, _hah_ , of course they didn’t want her charity. Nothing she could do would make up for the hand they’d been dealt in life.

So, no, she doesn’t know enough about the outside world, doesn’t know how to avoid being robbed, or what coins are worth how much. She doesn’t deserve to go back out, not until she’s learned more. But then again, how is she supposed to learn when Miro doesn’t teach her these things? She knows all about the One Hundred Year War, the history of the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe and the Air Nomads and the Fire Nation, but she doesn’t even know her neighbors’ names. Face it: she’s hopeless.

There’s a knock on the door and she starts from her thoughts. Figuring that it’s her nanny, Pana, she answers the door without checking to see who it is. That’s her first mistake.

“Hey Pa—” she freezes as she comes face-to-face with a man who looks to be in his early twenties. “Who are you?” she asks, a frown marring her features.

The man grins, showing a flash of teeth that has her recoiling. “A friend,” he says in a tone that has her physically shuddering. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

She moves to close the door, but he’s too quick, and he manages to get his foot over the threshold before she can react, stopping her from slamming it in his face. “That’s no way to treat a friend,” he reprimands her, grinning that same feral grin that has her stomach tying itself in knots.

She stomps on his foot with all the strength she can muster and grunts in exertion as she tries to force the door shut, but he easily wrenches it open, causing her to stumble back.

“Nice place,” the man drawls as he shoves past her. His gaze is calculating as he examines the foyer with an expression that reminds her of her own when she’s attempting long division. Like he’s totaling up the value of her home.

“Get out,” she tries, but her voice is barely over a whisper.

“What’s that?” he mocks, turning from his perusal of his surroundings to face her once more.

“Get out!” she says, voice a little stronger than before but still weak enough that he _laughs_.

“Little girl,” he says through a chuckle, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”

She doesn’t even think before assuming a fighting stance, or rather, what she imagines one to look like.

But he just laughs even harder. “Looks like we’re doing this the hard way. Say ‘thank you’ to Mako,” he taunts and before she can react, his fist is flying towards her face.

Her last thought before passing out is, _Oh, right. His name was Mako._

* * *

 _She really should have stayed at home yesterday._ If she had, none of this would have happened.

“Ch-Chief Beifong will catch you!” she stutters, but her captor just _laughs_.

“I’d like to see her try,” he says.

When he leaves, she releases a sigh of relief. Time to try and find a way out of here. First things first, where _is_ she? It’s so dark that she can hardly see her hand in front of her face. She blinks a few times to try and adjust her eyes to the lighting, to no avail.

“Hey, they’re gone now,” comes a voice from somewhere near her. It echoes in the dark; wherever they are, it’s _huge_. She looks around for the source, but she’s still unable to make out anything. “To ya right,” the voice informs her, and she hesitantly turns in that direction. “I’m Rei,” the voice continues, “so, how’d they get ya?”

“‘Get’ me?” she asks, confused by the word choice.

“Shady Shin and the other guys with the Triple Threats,” Rei replies as though she’s stupid. “They just snatch ya off the streets?”

“Is—is that what they did to you?”

“Sure did. Shin’s known I was a non-bender for a while now. It was only a matter of time until they came for me,” Rei replies.

“What does being a non-bender have to do with it?” she asks.

Rei laughs. “Ya must be new to the streets, huh?” they ask, but nevertheless answer, “We’re better targets. It’s a lot easier to cage up people who can’t fight back, ya know? Plus, ya don’t have to worry about accidentally snatching a metalbender.”

She nods in acceptance. “Where are we?” she asks, finally able to see the bars of her cage. “It’s so dark. Are there no windows? Are we in some sort of warehouse?”

Rei nods and her attention is drawn to them in the dark. Rei looks older than her, but certainly no older than twelve. Their face is dirty and sweaty, and their clothes have seen better days. Their hair is shorn short, making their hollow cheeks look even more gaunt. Everything about them is androgynous, from their clothes to their voice, and she wonders if they’re doing it on purpose, if it’s safer on the streets to not appear particularly female or male.

“I reckon we’re by the docks,” Rei answers. “I’m not sure how far, but Shu swears he can hear water and Nosha said she heard the guards say something about a boat, so we must be pretty close.”

At this, Sarri begins to panic. “A boat?” she asks, fingers finding her long hair and twisting.

“Nosha said tonight,” Rei replies, but she can hardly hear them over the sound of her own strangled breathing.

Lin _must_ know that she’s missing by now. The question is, will Lin be able to find her before the boat leaves?

“Hey, you alright?” asks Rei, and through the bars she sees their hand reach out for her to take, and she does. Their hand is warm, calloused, and when they squeeze hers, she feels a little stronger. “It’ll be okay,” they say reassuringly, and she grasps their hand tightly in response, fighting back tears.

“My—my mom will come for us,” she finally manages to gasp out, her breaths still irregular.

In the dark, she sees Rei nod. “So, they took ya from ya parents, huh?” they say. “Must be nice. Mine dumped me on the streets soon as I was able to fend for myself.”

 _And how early was that?_ she thinks but doesn’t ask. _How long has Rei been on the streets?_

“Why did they do it?” she finally asks.

Rei laughs bitterly. “Weren’t ya listening? Because I’m not a bender,” they huff, tone dark. “That’s why all half the kids are on the streets, these days,” they elaborate. “No one cares if a few non-benders go missing.”

“And the other half?” she questions.

“Huh?”

“Why are the other half of kids on the streets?”

“The Triads,” Rei replies simply, as though that explains everything, and maybe it does, maybe she’s just too sheltered to understand.

So, she nods along. “Say, Rei,” she begins. “What do you think the odds of us getting out of here are?”

“Slim to none.”

“What if _I_ was a metalbender?”

And their eyes light up in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've bookmarked or subscribed to this fic, please consider leaving a comment. They really go a long way to motivating me to write. Getting any sort of feedback is better than getting none. Specifically, what do you think about Rei? I'm up to chapter 13 in writing this fic and I'm trying to determine if I want to make them a reoccuring character.


	5. Mako II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako's not a bad guy...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who commented and left kudos last chapter...you have no idea how much they mean to me, comments especially. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**MAKO**

So he told Shady Shin where that girl lived. It was too much money to pass up! Four _thousand_ yuans. It was more money than he’d seen in a long time, since before his parents died. And he used it to buy him and Bolin new jackets. It’s still summer but they had lost their home in the spring and, as such, they didn’t have any winter clothes. He certainly hadn’t been looking forward to bracing the cold in just his shirt and pants.

Still, guilt gnawed at him. Shady Shin had mentioned that he’d be going over to her house this afternoon. Maybe Mako should check—

No, she wasn’t his problem. If she got hurt trying to defend her home, that was _her_ problem.

Unwillingly, his brain conjures up the memory of her crying, big gray eyes glassy as tears dripped down her cheeks and into her long, dark hair—

No. Just because she was pretty for a crybaby, didn’t mean—

He wasn’t going to do it.

Then he looks down at the bags in his hands and feels even worse. So he had used her money to buy these jackets and saved the money from Shady Shin for food. So what? That didn’t mean anything. He didn’t owe her anything. He didn’t—

Dammit, he _hates_ having a conscience. With a sigh, he gathers up his shopping and makes his way to her house. Spirits, right now she’s probably crying over the fact that they had taken her radio and her phone and her fancy hair comb or something. If she’s crying, he’ll, he’ll—

He won’t do anything. He’ll just leave.

Her house isn’t far from the shopping district, and he picks up his pace as he passes by two police officers; hopefully they don’t think he stole these jackets. But they pay him and his scruffy appearance no mind. He breathes a sigh of relief as they rush past him.

By the time that he reaches her house, it’s nearing five, and the clouds that have been threatening a downpour all day have darkened exponentially. If he gets soaked because of his conscience, he’s going to be pissed.

When he starts up the stairs of the porch, he’s surprised to have the door thrown open in his face. He’s even more surprised to be engulfed in a hug, his arms flailing about awkwardly before attempting (to no avail) to push the person away.

“Oh, Sarri, I’m so glad you’re home, don’t run off—” the woman pulls back to get a better look at him and he blushes in response. The woman is attractive, probably twenty or so, and he’s, well, he’s covered in the dirt and grime of the streets, and he’s just had her breasts shoved in his face, so forgive him if his face is a little red. “Sorry, I thought you were—” the woman pauses. “Who _are_ you?”

“Uh Mako?” he says, and inwardly curses that his voice raises like he’s asking a question.

“Do you know where Sarri is?” the woman asks frantically. “Her mother is going to _kill_ me for losing her. I swear, I’m not usually this late, but my brother has been so ill lately and I—sorry, _who_ did you say you were again?”

“Uh, Mako?” he repeats. “Sorry, did you say, uh, _Sarri_ was _missing?_ ”

“No note, place has been ransacked,” the woman mutters. “Oh, Spirits, you don’t think she’s been _kidnapped_ , do you??”

Mako sweat-drops. How _dense_ is this woman?

Still, something is on the tip of his tongue, a thought that he can’t quite remember, but one that won’t leave him alone, nonetheless. All of the sudden, it hits him like a Satomobile: how many times had he heard about non-bending street rats being snatched up, how many times had he heard Shady Shin tell him and Bolin that they were lucky they were useful? How often had he heard—

“Sorry, I’ll just—” he excuses himself half-heartedly and begins to sprint to the police station.

He knows where Sarri is.


	6. Sari III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarri tries to metalbend, she really does

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone who has left comments or kudos on this fic. They really mean a lot to me, and I'm glad y'all are enjoying this story...I've been experiencing writer's block recently on chapter 14, but having continued support is really motivating me to push through it so that I can make everyone happy. Again, Thanks so much!
> 
> And, if you haven't had a chance to check it out, this story's summary has a link to [my discord.](https://discord.gg/phzUsxX) I would really like to see you there!

**SARRI**

She tries. She really does. She copies every technique she’s ever seen Lin use, and even a few illustrations that she’d seen of Toph Beifong. She even tries to make up her own moves in hopes of success, but nothing works.

Rei’s excited expression soon morphs into one of disappointment. “Guess you’re not, then,” they say through a sigh. “Wishful thinking, huh?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t get it. My mom’s a metalbender,” she mutters, “but I guess I’m just a nonbender.”

“Aren’t we all?” says Rei disparagingly. There’s a gentle murmur from Rei’s right and Sarri tries to make out what’s being said to no avail. After a few moments, Rei turns back to Sarri. “Nosha said the guards were back,” Rei informs her, “so shut up.”

Sarri shudders.

They lapse into tense silence as they wait for the guards to finish their rounds, but it seems that they have other plans.

“If it isn’t the rich bitch,” one of them says as he comes up to the cage. He grips the bars tightly as he leans in and leers at her, rattling them. She jumps back at the noise, but he just laughs. “Hmm, you must be so scawed, huh?” he taunts, snickering.

She wonders if he can see the tear tracks trailing down her cheeks. No, she can’t appear weak. She _won’t_. She’s helpless and she’s scared, but that doesn’t mean that she’s weak. She can feel it, the powerful urge inside her to do something stupid, the same feeling she had yesterday before going outside.

“What if I took you out of a little test drive, huh?” the man continues, a smirk pulling at his thin lips. “Ya know, before we sell you?”

Her eyes widen in horror and beside her, she can hear Rei gasp, but they say nothing, perhaps too petrified to react or else fearing the guards will take it out on them instead. The door scrapes against the bottom of the cage as the man jiggles at the lock, and he grunts in frustration at not being able to open it. After maybe a minute or so, he finally gives up on the lock, and she breathes a sigh of relief. But then his eyes meet hers and he _grins._ The tip of his finger ignites in flames, his face illuminated in red lighting that terrifies her into physically shaking. He bends a small, blade-like flame which he holds to the padlock. It glows red hot before the metal finally snaps and he grins triumphantly, cracking his knuckles.

He wrenches the cage door open with such force that she flinches before scuttling to the back of the cage, putting as much distance between them as she can manage, but he easily catches one of her ankles and begins to drag her, kicking and screaming, out.

“NO!” she howls, just barely missing his face with her left foot. She draws back again, and this time, he goes flying back into one of the cages, crying out in pain as his back audibly _snaps_ when it connects with unrelenting metal.

His companion regards her in shock for a few seconds before starting towards her cage, but she screams again, her hands coming up to shield her face as he approaches. He comes to a halt at the door, and then suddenly drops to his knees, his hands clawing at his chest as he falls down to his knees. “Wha—what are you—what have you—done—to—me?”

He gulps for air and she lowers her hands, tries to stop it, but she can’t and—

He collapses in a heap.

She’s hyperventilating, but at the same time, she feels more in control than she ever has before.

Because she’s pretty sure she just airbended.

And that should be impossible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm once again asking you for your continued financial support--jk, but really, what do we think of Rei? I'm really unsure if they should be a reoccuring character...


	7. Lin II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lin learns that Sarri is missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay today, everyone. I've been really depressed all day because I lost 1900 words of a fic I'd been working on because my laptop decided to shut down on its own and Word's autosave feature either wasn't on or just didn't work. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but ever since I graduated high school 5 years ago, I've had a really hard time writing in general. A lot of the time, writing starts to feel like work after 500 words or so and I have to force myself to continue, which is why the maximum amount of words I've had for a chapter of this fic has been 1200. In fact, usually my word count is less than 1000. So for me to have written something that was so long is highly unusual and was a great achievement for me, which is part of what's made it so discouraging to have lost it.

**LIN**

Lin has had a trying day.

First those jaywalking non-bending protestors, then the bank robbery on 3rd Street, and now a boy telling her about a secret child trafficking ring.

“And they have this girl I know—”

“Let me stop you there,” Lin says, leaning back into her chair and crossing her arms. “If there was anything of the sort going on in Republic City, don’t you think that we would know about it?”

The boy in the red scarf (Macho?) shakes his head in frustration. “That’s why it’s secret! You have to listen to me—”

Lin ruffles. “Listen? I’ve been listening for the last ten minutes, entertaining your _conspiracy theory_. Look, kid, we’re the _police_. Unless you have evidence of a credible threat—”

The boy slows down and takes a calming breath. “I don’t have evidence. But!” he uncrosses his arms and leans forward to slam his palm on the table. The sound echoes sharply throughout the room. “There’s this girl I know, Sarri. Please just go check the warehouses by the docks, I would feel so guilty if she—”

Lin’s eye twitches. “Sarri, you said?” she asks, and her mind is whirling. Surely it can’t be her daughter, her daughter who spends all day at home, safe and sound. There have to be lots of Sarris out there, lots of girls with wide gray eyes and dark brown hair, lots of girls with cherubic cheeks and who grin wide grins while they copy her metalbending stances, lots of girls who wonder about their fathers, who—

“Yeah, Sarri,” he says in a tone of complete exasperation. “Her nanny said some items from the house were missing and that Sarri was gone. It seemed like a kidnapping.”

As he says this, her desk phone starts to ring.

Still eyeing the boy skeptically, she slowly reaches for the device. “Chief Beifong,” she answers.

“Oh, Lin, thank the Spirits,” comes the voice from the other end. “It’s Pana. Sarri—well, I think Sarri’s been kidnapped and the house has been ransa—”

Lin almost drops the phone. “Did you just say—”

“No note, all the expensive electronics gone,” she continues, and her voice sounds like it’s coming from far away. “I’m really sorry, Lin,” she says mournfully. “I was late and she must have—” Pana chokes.

“Pana?” Lin asks slowly.

“Y-yes?”

“You’re fired.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She hangs up the phone as slowly as she’d answered it and rises to her feet. “Stay here,” she directs the boy absentmindedly. Then, she walks over towards the officers currently chatting about pro-bending around the water cooler. “All of you, with me. Except Chen. Chen, you watch the boy,” she directs, and with that, they’re off to the docks.

Because her daughter, _her Sarri_ , her sweet, non-bending daughter, is gone.


	8. Sarri IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarri's just airbended. What next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm once again posting this far later in the day than I had intended to, and for that I'm sorry. Things have been tough recently and I'm having a hard time getting back into this story as a result. I'm currently applying to grad school and filling out applications and writing personal statements has been slowly chipping away at my soul.

She’s frozen. She’s not entirely sure what she just did, but she knows that it was bending— _airbending—_ and she knows it wasn’t good. Part of her thinks she should be happy, glad to know that she isn’t a non-bender, that she has some sort of innate _power_ running though her. But instead all she feels is dread and Spirits, that’s not something she wants to touch right now, because this all must mean that—well, her father must be—

There’s only one airbender in the world anymore: Tenzin, Avatar Aang’s son.

Does that mean—could she be—?

“Didja just _airbend?”_ comes Rei’s voice from her right, and she snaps from her thoughts. “Holy _shit.”_

Panic consumes her. Because if Tenzin is her father and she’s an airbender, then she’ll be stuck on Airbender Island, never to see Lin ever again. The only reason she’s with Lin now is because Lin believes she’s a non-bender, but the second that Lin finds out she’s an airbender…well, then she’ll be shipped away for training. And she doesn’t want that, because she doesn’t know Tenzin, doesn’t want to be forced to become a representative to a long-dead culture that she hadn’t even known she’d been connected to until now. And Lin _needs_ her; or, at least, that’s what she’d like to tell herself. Lin needs someone to make dinner and take care of the dishes. Someone to listen to her rant about the criminals she’d just caught and her on-going cases.

No, Lin can’t find out. And that means…

“Rei, you can’t tell anyone!” Sarri says in a near whisper.

Rei snorts. “It’s not like I have anyone to tell,” they say. “Now are ya gonna get out of there, or…?”

With a jolt, Sarri realizes that she is, in fact, free. She pushes herself to the lip of the cage and takes care not to step on the—gulp—body which lies below. Her fingers itch to check the man’s pulse, but she can’t quite bear the thought that she might have actually killed him. Better to not know.

Spirits, she feels sick. The world spins dangerously as she finally rises to her feet. She sways on the spot, fighting the panic that swells inside of her as her breaths become irregular once more.

“Kid.”

She closes her eyes to block out the image of the man lying on the cold hard floor, but fear claws at her, begging to drag her down, and she—

“Shit. Kid!”

She can’t do this; she can’t live like this. Because now she knows just how much harm bending can cause. She knows what it feels like to cause pain, and probably _death_. She wants nothing to do with these powers, wishes them gone, wishes she’d never unlocked her bending, that it had stayed dormant, hidden inside her where it couldn’t hurt anyone.

She can’t breathe, can’t inhale and exhale properly; instead, she takes sharp gasping breaths in too quick of succession to really draw any air into her lungs. Spirits, she feels faint, she feels—

 _“Kid. Listen to me.”_ Rei's voice cuts through her breathing, smooth and low and with just enough force behind it that her brain registers authority and accordingly decides to pay attention, no matter how much her body screams at her to ignore the voice, to run away. “Deep breath in,” Rei instructs, inhaling heavily to make their point. She shakily follows along, breath hitching a few times no matter how hard she tries to control it, threatening to revert back to a wild, erratic pace. “And out,” Rei orders after a few seconds, and Sarri struggles not to exhale too quickly, pacing herself and counting in her head until she receives the next instruction. They repeat the exercise until Rei can’t excuse her anymore, until Rei tells Sarri that they _don’t have time_ because another rotation of guards might come looking for the first.

Then, _then,_ she hastily pulls herself together. By no stretch of the imagination is she alright; no, she may never be alright again, not after this experience, but she’s _functional,_ and that’s all she needs to be for now.

Her shaking fingers fiddle with the lock on Rei's cage to no avail.

“It’s no good,” Rei informs her through a sigh. “And it doesn’t seem like they had keys, since they had to firebend your door open. I’m not getting out.”

And that just won’t do. “No, you have to—” she starts, but Rei cuts her off.

“Get out of here. If we’re lucky, ya might even be able to alert the police in time for the rest of us to be saved.”

“Rei,” her voice trembles with emotion, “I _can’t, I—”_

But Rei won’t hear it. “Go,” they say, voice strong and commanding.

And she does.


	9. Lin III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lin finally reunites with Sarri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for their support last chapter! I finished up some of my grad school apps (the ones that were due on the 15th) but I still have more to complete. I'm hoping to be done with them by the end of October. In the meantime, I do still have chapters pre-written for this fic, so I will continue to post on Mondays until I run out. At that point, I may take a hiatus so that I can sort out the rest of this story. I have so many plans for you, dear readers >:)

**LIN**

If Lin had been having a trying day before the kid with the scarf had come into her office, it was so much worse now. Somehow, _somehow_ , her child, her _daughter_ , was missing, presumed kidnapped, and by the Triple Threat Triad, no less.

It was as if her worst fears had come true; things she had only dreamt up in her darkest moments, thoughts she had never entertained beyond thinking to herself that, surely, she could keep her daughter _safe_. And yet, she had _failed._ Failed as a mother. Failed to protect her daughter. And wasn’t this what she’d been hoping to avoid by keeping Sarri at home? Home, where she couldn’t get into any trouble, where no other kids would make fun of her, where she would be safe from the violence that Lin so often saw on the streets.

Lin laughs to herself disparagingly.

But no, despite her best efforts, despite all her precautions, her daughter is _missing._

“Chief, we’ve searched two of the warehouses,” comes the voice of one of her lieutenants. “We have yet to find anything, but there are fifteen more buildings in the area.”

Lin eyes the setting sun with apprehension. “We need to move quicker,” she commands, trying to remain strong even though her heart currently aches. She won’t give up though. She’s not one to, especially not on something like this. Especially not on _someone_ this important to her. It’s why she pursued Tenzin until she couldn’t anymore, until he told her, on no uncertain terms, that he was with Pema now and she couldn’t go around imprisoning people out of jealousy.

“Yes, ma’am,” the lieutenant says with a salute, and ventures back out to return to his own search.

She sighs to herself.

_Sarri, where are you?_

Lin knows dread. Felt it when Suyin started running around with her new “friends”; when that cable snapped in her face and the police report had nearly been filed; when Tenzin told her that their goals didn’t align and that he was leaving her. But she’s never felt it like this. Has never felt sick to her stomach with a sort of grotesque anticipation that feels a lot more like fear. Has never seriously considered breaking down and crying. But she can’t. She has to be strong, _has_ to be. Because she can’t afford not to be, can’t afford to give up when her daughter is still—

Her daughter is—

Lin’s eyes widen.

Because her daughter is currently running at full speed towards her, waving her arms above her head frantically.

Her feet are moving, and before she can second-guess the response, she’s thrown her arms tightly around the little girl, lifting her off her feet and holding her close. To her complete and utter _horror_ , there are unsolicited tears dripping down her cheeks, but it doesn’t matter, _none_ of it matters, because her daughter is safe and whole and healthy and she’s _here._ Lin’s relief is almost palpable, tangible in its intensity, and she squeezes Sarri tightly even though she’s barely given the girl a pat on the head before, almost as if she’s afraid that if she lets her go, she’ll disappear.

It takes her a few seconds to realize that her daughter is crying, but through her tears, she’s saying something important, she’s saying, _“Put me down, mom, there are more. More kids. We have to help them, we have to—”_

And with that, Lin quickly lets the girl go.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Sarri urges her, taking her by the hand and leading her as quickly as her shorter legs can handle. And Lin follows.

* * *

The warehouse the children were being kept in did, indeed, turn out to be close to the docks.

The first thing Lin notices is the cages and the children inside them. The second is the thugs. One of them is standing over what looks suspiciously like a body, while the second hovers over a toppled pile of extra cages.

Lin isn’t sure what they’re doing, but she is sure that she doesn’t care. She’s _livid_. Angrier than she’s been in her whole life; angrier than when Suyin left, than when Pema confessed. Angrier than she’d ever even imagined she _could_ be.

Because these men had taken her daughter from her, kept her in a _cage_ , treated her like an _animal._ There’s an urge within her, something that feels almost uncontrollable and wild, like how she imagines fire must feel, to _do something_. To not just tie them up, to not just use her bending, but to beat these men bloody, to punch until her arm aches and the metal lining her knuckles is dented and her breath runs short from exertion.

It takes a surprising amount of control not to, but she eventually manages. Because that isn’t the way of things. She has to follow due process; she has to make an arrest. She can’t just go around beating the hell out of people just because she feels like it; there’s no place for vigilante justice in Republic City, not even when the people in question deserve it. No, even they deserve a fair trial, even they deserve to be protected by the law; because the law is impartial, because the law protects everyone, even criminals. And, as much as it angers her, as much as she aches with the urge to see their blood staining cold concrete, she has to respect the law and her position in it.

Now, if they were to resist arrest, that would be a different story…

She doesn’t bother announcing herself and giving them a chance to fight back; instead, she launches her cables at them with deadly accuracy, binding their arms to their bodies tightly so that they can’t use them to bend.

But they don’t even bother fighting back.

“Pl-please!” says the man with green eyes who she figures is an earthbender. “Just don’t do to us what you did to them!”

_What she did to…?_

The man nods to the body at his feet.

Eyeing him warily, she approaches slowly. She keeps eye contact with the man as she bends down and checks the man’s pulse. He’s…he’s dead. _How?_

Lin looks at the cage behind her; the lock is mangled and melted, the door ajar. This must be how Sarri escaped. But how did the man die?

She shakes her head and commands the metal locks to break off and the doors to swing open, freeing the children.

She’ll figure out the murder later. For now, all that matters is that the children are safe, that _Sarri_ is safe, and that the criminals have been caught.


	10. Sarri V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarri and Mako unexpectedly meet again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the prolonged absence, folks. I struggle with depression and I was having what I've been calling an "episode", where things were much worse then usual. Applications, asking for recommendations, writing personal statements... all while still looking for a job just hasn't been making it easy to write right now.
> 
> I hope to post again tomorrow, and then resume publishing on a monthly basis rather than weekly. I will set it in my calendar and everything :)

**SARRI**

She sits in a metal room in a metal chair. It takes a lot of effort for her to refrain from fidgeting; her fingers occasionally twitch with the urge to pull at her hair or tap on the tabletop as she waits. Finally, _finally_ , Lin enters.

“Sarri,” she starts, and her voice is completely neutral, devoid of any of the barely-restrained emotion, the relief, that had colored it earlier when Sarri had found her on the docks, looking almost defeated.

“Yes, Chief?”

“I want you to tell me what happened,” Lin says, and settles into the chair across from Sarri. “From the beginning.”

And so Sarri launches into the tale of how she left home yesterday and got lost, how she met Mako and Balin (Bowen?) and how they had walked her home. She neglects to mention that Mako had charged her for his services, and that he had been the one to tell Shady Shin where the Beifong household was. She’s not entirely sure why she leaves these details out, but she does. Instead, she tells Lin about how Shady Shin had knocked on the door and she’d assumed it was Pana and had taken a blow to the face as a result. Lin listens with rapt attention, her expression growing gradually darker as Sarri explains the circumstances behind how her cage door had come to be open in the first place.

She also leaves out the part where she airbended.

But this doesn’t deter Lin. “What happened to those two men?” she asks as Sarri concludes her official statement.

Sarri tries to remain calm. “I don’t know,” she replies, and she’s not even lying. She _doesn’t_ know what had happened, she doesn’t know how she did it, and she’s not sure wants to.

Lin frowns and her gaze is scrutinizing. “So, you didn’t see what happened to them?” she asks, eyes narrowed.

Sarri shakes her head.

And, perhaps because the alternative would be that her eight year old daughter had killed a man, Lin believes her, doesn’t even bother to use her seismic sense to try and tell if Sarri is lying.

All Sarri can hope is that Rei keeps their promise.

After a few more probing questions, Sarri is allowed to leave the interrogation room. Lin instructs her, under no uncertain terms, to stay in the station and wait until she’s ready to go home, so Sarri soon finds herself sitting in the waiting room, virtually alone save for the officer manning the front desk.

She’s still sitting there when she catches a familiar flash of red out of the corner of her eye. She swivels in her seat and makes eye contact with the boy who betrayed her. Mako.

 _“You,”_ she hisses at the same time that he says in what sounds suspiciously like relief, “You?”

Her feet carry her on autopilot over to him, and before she can think better of it, she’s slapped him across the face. The sound echoes in the large room, ringing loudly in the quiet space, and he very slowly turns back to face her.

“I deserved that,” he acknowledges, bringing a hand up to his cheek. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“You’re _sorry?”_ she asks in disbelief. “I got _kidnapped_ because of you.”

He winces. “I didn’t know—I didn’t think—”

She shakes her head. “Didn’t think?” she says through a snort and is more conscious than ever of the way her breath tickles her upper lip with more force than is completely necessary. Is this what it means to be an airbender? To be constantly aware of the air and the way it brushes against her? As if to prove her point, she feels the way the air shifts around him as he exhales heavily.

“I’m _sorry,”_ he says. “I didn’t know he wanted to kidnap you. He told me he just wanted to steal a few things and I didn’t think—I’m _sorry.”_

They’re silent for a few seconds as she digests what he’s said. She doesn’t forgive him. How could she? But then a thought occurs to her. “What are you doing here?” she asks suspiciously. “How come you’re not with Shady Shin counting your cut?”

He runs a hand though his dark hair, aureolin eyes downcast; and yet there’s something in them, something honest and self-aware that she’s not quite sure she can trust. “Shady Shin had mentioned the docks before,” he starts, and his hand lifts to begin fidgeting with his scarf before his fingers curl into fists instead, as though he’s desperate not to show weakness. “I went to your house and you weren’t there,” he continues, and his eyes lift to catch hers. “And I realized that you must have been taken.”

She blinks a few times. “You went to my house?”

Red flashes over his cheeks and spreads rapidly up his ears. “Bolin would have killed me if you got hurt!” he says defensively. “Besides, I knew you couldn’t defend yourself.”

It’s her turn to blush. “I—I can too!” she says, and it’s no longer quite the lie it would have been previously.

He scoffs. “You’re a non-bender, aren’t you? That’s why Shin took you. They only take non-benders.”

She squeezes her fists to keep from doing something rash. Her shoulders slump. “I am,” she acquiesces.

He nods as if to say, “that’s what I thought,” and runs a hand through his hair again. “Look, I’ve got to go,” he finally mumbles. As an afterthought, he adds, “Stay out of trouble.”

And with that, he’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So thus concludes Chapter 10! This chapter is mainly due to Carnelian, whose reviews made me smile this weekend when I saw them. Additionally, I am going to try and be more active on Discord, so if that is something you're interested in, please join!


	11. Mako III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako runs into some trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I would update on Monday, but I had to finish writing my personal statement for my applications. At last, I can submit my applications. Hopefully that means I will have more time to write now :)
> 
> At any rate, happy Thanksgiving to my American viewers! Stay safe and healthy--I know it's tempting to spend time with friends and family that you haven't been able to see in months, but covid is real and it's dangerous to gather indoors with people outside of your pod. If you absolutely must see your family, please make sure to gather outdoors and remain at least 6 feet away from the people outside your pod. Additionally, wear masks when you aren't eating!
> 
> Thus concludes my public health PSA, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: Implied child abuse

**MAKO**

He hastily excuses himself from his conversation with the girl, with _Sarri_ , and leaves the police station. He’s irritated because he’d been forced to wait around all night until they’d actually found the children and, beyond that, he still feels guilty for having been the cause of Sarri’s abduction in the first place. Sure, he’d informed the police that Shady Shin was keeping the kids at the docks, and sure, he’d apologized to her, but that didn’t make him feel any less bad for his actions.

He should have never trusted Shady Shin, never believed that it was a simple robbery. He _knew_ that she was a non-bender, just a weak little girl, and he’d heard the whispers on the streets about non-bending orphans going missing, but he’d never even considered that Shin might take her. If anything had happened to her, to Sarri, then he would—guilt twists at the pit of his stomach once more and he feels physically sick.

No. He isn’t willing to go there.

It’s not his fault. He was just trying to make some money, just trying to support his brother, just trying to _survive._ It was Shady Shin who decided to kidnap her, who decided to take those kids off the streets and lock them in cages to sell to the highest bidder. And Mako had helped stop that, hadn’t he? So, he has no reason to feel guilty, no reason to feel bad; because, in the end, he had done the right thing.

Speaking of Shady Shin, Mako realizes that he has a problem as soon as he sets foot in a familiar alleyway right down the street from where he and Bolin are staying and bumps into the man himself. And, boy, does he look angry.

“Mako,” Shady Shin greats him with a lazy smirk. “So nice to see you.”

Mako suppresses a gulp, trying not to outwardly show any signs of weakness; if he does, Shin will pounce on him and show no mercy. No, he has to remain impassive, has to remain collected.

Because he had failed to consider the fact that Shady Shin might find out that he had tipped off the police.

Well, that’s not strictly true. He had briefly considered the possibility that Shin would know he’d snitched, but it had been little more than a passing thought, a brief consideration that had melted into fear, fear of what it would mean to have been the reason behind a little girl being sold into, presumably, some sort of slavery. Even though it wasn’t his fault, even though he isn’t to blame, he would still have felt that same sickening guilt. And so, he’d pushed away the thought of what might happen if he’d gotten caught, if Shin were to find out, and now here he is, having to deal with the repercussions of his actions.

“Shin,” he greets in return, swallowing his misgivings, swallowing his _fear._

“A little birdie told me,” Shady Shin begins, “that you stopped by the little girl’s house.”

That, he can’t deny. Mako inclines his head. “I did,” he confirms.

Shin's grin widens; he’s tasted blood. “And why would you do that, kid?”

Mako swallows. _Maybe he doesn’t know_ , he thinks, _maybe he only thinks I went to check on her._ “Just wanted to see how she was doing,” he says with a casual shrug. He neglects her name, refrains from saying it (and he’s not sure if he does so because even hearing it fills him with guilt, because it reminds him of what had almost happened to her, or if it’s in some effort to protect her, her identity.)

“That so?” Shin asks. He raises a hand to his chin in contemplation. “Little birdie also said you’d swung by the station.”

Mako tries to remain calm, he really does, but he can feel his eyes widening in response, in fear. “I did,” he acknowledges, shrugging again. “That a crime?”

Shin's smirk threatens to split his face in two. “Ya know, Mako,” he says, his eyes narrowing until all Mako can see is beady black pupils and dark blue irises, no trace of whites in sight. “I always took ya for a smart kid,” he says. “Much smarter than that brother of yours, at any rate,” he adds with an amused chuckle. “But you really fucked up today, huh?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Mako says, voice tight. _He doesn’t know, he’s just trying to intimidate you, don’t give anything away._

“Sure you do,” Shin prompts, “allow me to refresh your memory.”

And with that, Mako’s world explodes in pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I originally considered having Shady Shin beat up Mako in the text, but considering Mako is a child, it felt wrong to do anything other than fade to black. Additionally, I felt that I would have to up the rating if I was going to include that kind of child abuse. I also didn't want to trigger my readers. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	12. Lin IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lin has to deal with the consequences of never training Sarri.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Yeah, so, it's been a while. I've felt bad about not posting, but at the same time, I have taken a break from writing this story, and so I didn't want to post again until I had overcome my writer's block. I still haven't done so, if I'm being honest. But my applications for the 2021 Fall semester are due in the next four days, and I couldn't keep myself from procrastinating, which is why you're getting this chapter now.
> 
> Additionally, my grandfather came down with COVID a few weeks ago. He's fine, has only experienced mild symptoms, but it's hard not to worry--even with his politics being what they are.
> 
> And holy shit can we talk about how much of dumpster fire America has become for a hot second? Because wow. I have never been more ashamed to be American. I do not condone the riot that happened at the Capitol building last week, and as far as I'm concerned, if you do, you can stop reading my stories and supporting me.
> 
> I know fanfiction is supposed to be an escape from the real world, which is the other reason I'm posting today--for anyone who needs that break from reality.

**LIN**

_“I didn’t see what happened,”_ Rei had told Lin, _“it was too dark.”_

And Lin has to wonder about that, because it doesn’t seem likely that neither Rei nor Sarri had seen a single thing. Sure, it had been dark, and sure, they had been scared, but they had to have at least heard something. And yet, both of them had refused to speak any further on the matter. It was suspicious, to say the least, but it didn’t necessarily mean anything—after all they were _children_ who had gone through something _traumatic._ Not trained police officers with uncanny memories. Plus, they were non-benders, at that. It wasn’t as if Rei or Sarri had killed Ho or injured Min. And yet here she was, without an explanation as to what had happened to either man. Considering dead men tell no tales, she would just have to wait until Min woke up—though that was seeming less likely by the day: the Triple Threat Triad crony was in a coma.

(And Lin wishes she had been the one to kill Ho and beat Min into his coma, she really does; for Min had threatened her daughter, had been trying to take her on a “test drive” had wanted to _rape_ her little girl. And Spirits does Lin wish someone hadn’t beaten her to the literal punch. Even now she aches to pay him a visit in the hospital, even now she wants to punch him, at least once, even if he’s unconscious, even if he wakes up and can’t remember what he did.)

It was beginning to look like a cold case. Her only other option was to try and bring Shady Shin and some other higher-level members of the Triple Threats in for questioning, but they were a slippery bunch, and even though she knew they had been the ones to give the order, the only thing she had to go off was the testimony of an eight year old girl. It was enough to bring in Shin ( _if_ her officers could find him—there’d been a warrant out for his arrest for _years_ ) but it wasn’t enough evidence to bring him down; not with Ho dead and Min incapacitated.

Lin sighs wearily to herself as she finally leaves the station for the night with Sarri at her side. Her daughter matches her pace, her much shorter legs causing her to have to take two extra steps for every one of Lin’s just to keep up. Noticing this, Lin slows slightly.

“Ch-chief?” her daughter begins hesitantly. “I’m sorry.”

It’s not the first time she’s apologized for tonight and knowing how kind her heart is, Lin wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t the last. How she was blessed with a girl like Sarri, she’ll never know, but her daughter won’t even let her kill the occasional scorpion-fly when it somehow manages to infiltrate their home. Talk about being Lin’s complete opposite; Sarri must get it from Tenzin, that’s the only explanation. Tenzin, who’s a vegetarian like his father before him, Tenzin who would have her hold hands with Pema and sing praises to the Spirits if he had his way. Tenzin who—no. Enough about Tenzin. She hasn’t seen Tenzin properly in _years_ , hasn’t seen him outside of the odd Council meeting where she’s called in to consult on police matters. She’s not a politician, not by any stretch of the imagination; if anything, her position is apolitical, but to a certain degree, she answers to those yahoos—Tenzin and, even worse, Tarrlok and the other nameless (okay, not _nameless_ , but she definitely can’t remember their names) members of the Council.

But that’s beside the point. It’s not as if it’s Sarri’s fault. How could she have known that the Triple Threats would come knocking on their door? How could she have known that she would get kidnapped?

No, it’s those bastards’ fault. Lin tells her as much. “I don’t ever want you to apologize, kid,” she says in conclusion.

After a moment of hesitation, Sarri nods, but there’s something about her gray eyes that’s different than before; something darker in them. It’s barely been two hours since she got her back and Lin already misses her innocence.

 _“She’s your daughter, right?”_ Rei had asked. _“You really failed her, not teaching her how to defend herself.”_

And Rei was right. And it was a mistake that would have to be rectified immediately.

As soon as dinner is ready (instant ramen, it’s all Lin has ever learned to cook) she goes through her phone book and tries to find a new nanny. The yellow pages offer more than a few options, but after calling some, she realizes none of them have the skills she’s looking for. So, she looks into bodyguards instead and finds a firebender named Lee.

At first, he’s irritated at being contacted, seeing the job as babysitting since he would be watching a young girl, but Lin had explained what had happened (or, more accurately, what had _almost_ happened) to her daughter, and Lee had been moved. He obviously had a soft spot for children being harmed and that, coupled with the fact that Sarri was largely self-sufficient, had sold him on the arrangement. Lee recommends his brother, Luo, a non-bender, to tutor Sarri, but agrees to protect her on a day-to-day basis. It’s not without a hefty price, of course, but Lin can afford it, and it gives her more surety that Pana or any other nanny ever did. That’s not to say that she won’t have one of her officers watching Sarri even still, but Lee definitely affords her some semblance of security.

Next, she addresses the elephant-gator in the room: Sarri had admitted to going outside, to leaving their home, but obviously it had made no difference. The Triad hadn’t snatched her off the streets, but rather from the house. It’s natural that the girl be curious, that Sarri want to go out and make friends, but she shouldn’t feel the need to sneak out, she shouldn’t feel the need to go out unsupervised.

With a pang, Lin realizes she _has_ failed her daughter and that, worse still, she’s subjected her to the same fate her own mother had faced. Caged up inside all day, no friends to speak of—wasn’t that what Toph had gone through as a child? Lin’s mother had rarely spoken of her childhood, preferring instead to reminisce about Twinkle Toes and Sugar Queen and make blind jokes and belch, but Lin knew that she’d been sheltered. And as a result, Toph had been too lax a mother, acting more as a friend than a parent to Lin and Suyin, giving them too much freedom—and look how that had turned out, look how _Suyin_ had turned out. And here Lin was, repeating the same mistakes.

So, she makes a compromise. “Take Lee with you if you must go out,” Lin says as she claps her daughter on the shoulder. “Take him wherever you want, just don’t go alone.”

And with that, she leaves Sarri for another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additionally, I have a Community fic and a Doctor Who fic in the works right now. If you're interested in either, sound off in the comments beloooooow!


End file.
